Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

It was unconstitutional. This has been acknowledged by the party since. The issues raised by the Senator can be included as part of the constitutional convention, which will be announced by the Taoiseach in the next few weeks. People will have an opportunity to make submissions about an outright ban on corporate donations.

A balance must be struck between political funding from the public purse and private sources. I do not want to go back to the days of cheque book politics with professional and political elites swanning in and out of both Houses when they had their day's work done in the Law Library or elsewhere. That day is, hopefully, gone and people on modest incomes and none will have the same opportunity as wealthy individuals to be elected to the Oireachtas. That is why public expenditure is important and there must be controls on the income and expenditure side. That is what we are trying to achieve. How that money is best spent can be teased out in the debate on the legislation to which I referred earlier. My colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, has a watchful eye on all expenditure matters and he also has concerns about these issues.

The thresholds provided for in the Bill are reasonable and they provide balance in the context of the limits we want to enshrine in legislation. The litir um thoghcháin issue can also be examined in the context of whether it is necessary to maintain it in its current form. It costs significant money for the parties to distribute it. Perhaps there is a better way of communicating to the electorate than sending a letter at the expense of taxpayer on behalf of political parties.